"Finally," says restaurateur Louis Nemes, who thought of the novelty food item almost a half century ago and serves it occasionally at his Bistro restaurants on Avenue Rd. and Dufferin St.

"The biggest problem is why? Why do you want to change the hot dog's shape?" Nemes asks rhetorically. "Why would you try to change a 100-year-old tradition?"

Last week, he read of a compelling reason: It's safer.

In a policy statement, American pediatricians said hot dogs were a top choking hazard and urged manufacturers to reshape the traditional tube steak.

"If you were to design the perfect plug for a child's airway, you couldn't do much better than a hot dog," said Dr. Gary Smith, lead author of the policy.

Nemes' idea is simple. The secret of his "round hot dog" is ... bologna.

He uses lyoner, a German bologna, which is similar to smooth Hungarian parizsi. He slices one-centimetre-thick slabs, grills them (complete with appealing grill marks), then serves them on burger buns with condiments and fixings. He also makes slider-sized minis.

They come in beef, veal and chicken versions, and mimic hot dogs in flavour and bouncy texture. The beef is the closest cousin, the veal the juiciest.

Nemes thought of the concept 45 years ago, as a Hungarian immigrant working in the lab at Canada Packers (now part of Maple Leaf Foods). On a coffee break, he started talking to a supervisor about the hot dogs and it dawned on him how similar they were in composition to bologna, albeit not as spicy.

He played around with the "redesign," with the intention of marketing round dogs to fast food chains like McDonald's, since they already stocked round buns and condiments.

But he never got around to it. Nemes was too busy running a series of restaurants and building a reputation as Toronto's wing king, the founder of the St. Louis Bar and Grill chain.

Nemes started serving "round hot dogs" a dozen years ago at the now defunct St. Louis Doghouse on Yonge St.

Now, at Bistro on Avenue Rd., the round dog is a lunch or dinner special a couple of times a month. Nemes plans to raise its profile by giving it a permanent spot on the menu.

But what to call it? If you've got a catchy name, the restaurateur wants to hear it. He plans to launch a naming contest on his website, www.thebistros.ca.

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